Saturday, November 16, 2013

#Drones2013 Conference In DC Will Hear Yemeni Survivors Testify

CODEPINK protest outside the home of Jeh Johnson this week. Johnson is a lawyer who made his reputation as a drone apologist and is now the Obama administration nominee to head the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Can't make it to the drones conference in Washington DC this weekend?
                                                                                                                          

The women-led peace group CODEPINK, the progressive think-tank Institute for Policy Studies, The Nation Magazine, and the National Lawyers Guild's Georgetown Chapter are hosting “Drones Around the Globe: Proliferation and Resistance” at Georgetown Law Center's Hart Auditorium. The conference brings together drone survivors and families of victims from Pakistan and Yemen, human rights advocates, lawyers, authors, social media experts, technology experts, artists and musicians, and grassroots activists for an International Drone Summit.

Saturday, Nov. 17
9am-6:30pm Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave NW

9 am-10am : CODEPINK welcome (Medea Benjamin and Noor Mir) and address by Dr. Cornel West

10-11am: Legal Challenges to Drone Strikes (law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell, legal expert Marjorie Cohn (moderator), Center for Constitutional Rights attorney Pardiss Kebriaei)

11:05-12:45 pm: Drone Proliferation Across the Globe (German filmmaker Elsa Rassbach, Israeli researcher Dalit Baum, scientist Noel Sharkey, Wade McMullen from R.F. Kennedy Center, UK-NATO expert Chris Cole (also moderator)

12:45 - 1:45: Lunch, concurrent film screening of Wounds of Waziristan, by Pakistani filmmaker Madiha Tahir (starting at 1:10 pm)
1:45 pm-3:30pm View from Yemen (Baraa Shaiban of REPRIEVE, attorney Mohamed Ahmady of Al Karama, Ahmed Arman from Yemeni NGO HOOD, Faisal bin Ali Jaber a relative of drone victims in Yemen, Entesar al Qadhi a prominent female Yemeni politician, moderated by CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin)

3:45 pm - 4:45 pm : The Domestic State of Drones (Amie Stepanovich of Electronic Privacy Information Center, professor Joe Nevins, author David Swanson, artist Essam, moderated by RT anchor Abby Martin)

5:00 - 6:00 pm: Two views of the Drone War: (former military intel analyst Daniel Hale, Afghan educator Fahima Vorgetts, Colonel Mo Davis, Samira Sayed-Rahman of Afghans for Peace, moderated by Colonel Ann Wright)

6:00-6:30 pm: Closing remarks

Sunday, November 17th  
9am-4pm, Georgetown Law Center
Strategy session to look at how to better coordinate the work and to lay the foundation for a Global Drones Network. For representatives of organizations and individuals who want to be actively involved in the work of a Global Drones Network. If you are interested in attending Sunday’s session, please email Noor Mir at noor@codepink.org. We welcome all individuals and organizations to join us in this new initiative.
CODEPINK protesting at confirmation hearings this week, objecting to drone supporter Jeh Johnson who was nominated by Pres. Obama to head the Dept. of Homeland Security.

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